UM Host Dance Days Next Week

MISSOULA – The University of Montana Dance Program invites students from regional high schools and two-year colleges to join in two days of dance during its seventh annual UM Dance Days event.

UM Dance Days runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2, and from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, in the UM Performing Arts and Radio/TV Center. Friday night also will feature a concert beginning at 7:30 p.m. Participants must register by Tuesday, Jan. 30.

Visiting students take master classes in five dance genres, participate in a reception with UM dance majors and faculty, and attend the school’s American College Dance Association Benefit Concert. The Benefit Concert, an adjudicated concert coinciding with UM Dance Days, presents choreography by new and established dance artists, and the student-run concert supports the program’s annual attendance to the ACDA Northwest Regional Conference. This year’s conference will be held in March at University of Colorado-Boulder.

Dancers also will tour the extensive facilities at UM’s School of Theatre & Dance to learn about opportunities in the program and school. The UM Dance Program will hold auditions for admission into its program, and students may submit applications for scholarships.

According to Associate Professor of Dance Heidi Jones Eggert, the event is about more than recruiting.

“UM Dance Days is an opportunity to celebrate dance,” Eggert said. “Enthusiastic young artists from around the region gather to peek into their viable future as dancers in college and beyond.”